I have often said that foreigners think more of the Irish language than do many Irish people. The work of foreign scholars has been very important and useful. The Swiss, the Germans and the French in particular have done outstanding work. I came across a small dictionary by chance recently: ‘Foclóir Gaeilge/Fraincis, edited by a Breton, Loig Cheveau (Published by Yoran Embanner €8.50).

It is obvious that the dictionary will be more useful to you if you know French, but even if you don’t, it is a valuable resource. It gives you the pronunciation of the Irish words, and ‘la pronunciation du Donegal; I don’t think a translation is necessary.) The editor has done an excellent job in compiling the dictionary. He gives standard words and also dialect forms: the Ulster dialect, the Connacht dialect and Munster forms. The only complaint I have is that he does not give precedence to the standard form when there is more than one form of the word.(If you don’t know in Heaven’s name what I am on about, don’t worry about it - just keep on reading: it is a technical matter and life is too short.) This dictionary is more than a list of words. It gives good examples of the proper use of the words; it has idioms and I also really like the place-names that it gives: you don’t get many dictionaries that give you Lifford, Gortahork and Ros Goill.

This company has published a large number of minority language dictionaries, including an Irish/Breton dictionary. I would like to see an Irish/English version.